Appabatus for heating wax-cases



I. P. RIVETT. APPARATUS FOR HEATING WAX CASES.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. I6, 1914.

Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

.l. P. RIVETT.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING WAX CASES.

APPLICATION EILED SEPT-16,1914.

Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- softening the surface.

n ras JOSEPH P. RIVETTQOF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR HEATING WAX-CASES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Am -(8,1916.

Application filed September 16, 1914. Serial No. 862,122.

To all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, JOSEPH P. RIVETT, a citizen of the United States,and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus forHeating VVax-Cases, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactspecification.

This 1 invention relates to improvements in apparatus for heating waxcases comprising an inclosing structure provided with racks or othermeans, in which heretofore a number of wax cases have been supportedwith their faces horizontal one above the other, and spaced apart forthe passage of heat rising from below and accumulating at the top of theinclosing struc ture, to which latter for inserting and re moving thewax cases access is limited to the use of a single door at the frontside thereof.

l/Vax cases consist of a metal base and an overlying somewhat thick;layer of wax which for use must be softened by heat immediately beforereceiving type impressions for electrotyping purposes, the best resultfrom which is only obtainable when the surface of the wax is uniformlysofter than its core, that is to say the wax next the metal base, and aresult impossible of securing withany degree of certainty when wax casesin horizontal arrangement as above described are exposed to rising heat,which is the only means adapted for successfully Among the objections tothe horizontal arrangement of wax cases above described may be mentionedthat when several wax cases are so arranged it is impossible touniformly impart heat to any two of them because the bottom casereceives the direct impact of the moving heat at its highest de gree,the top case stagnantheat accumulating at the top of the inclosingstructure,

whereas the intermediate cases areexposed to a constantly reducedrising, heat; that the rising heat imparts a higher degree of heat toone end than it does to the other end of the cases, with the result chatin pracoverheated, as is frequently liable to. occur in the priorstructures, the wax surface of every case must be uppermost, with theresult that the core of the wax is made softer thanits surface, exposedas it is to heats of conduction of a higher degree than contacts withthe surface wax; and that when access is had to the inclosing structureby but a single door it is impossible to heat wax cases in the absenceof a stagnant heat or to prevent one end of a case being heated higherthan the other while removing them from their inclosing structure. Inshort, before my invention there has been no apparatus for heating casesin which it is possible and practical to at all successfullysimultaneously heat a number of wax cases, nor wherein it is possible tosoften the surface of a singly heated wax case without producing agreater softness of its core than of its surface however many times itmay be reversed from end to end during the application of heat thereto.

From the foregoing it will now be obvious that any means by which it ispossible and practical to uniformly and successfully heat a number ofwax cases and reduce their wax to the degree of softness for securingthe best results will be a marked improvement and advance in the art ofheating wax cases. 7

The prime object of my invention, is an apparatus for heating wax caseshaving a several times greater capacity than heretofore, and in whichthe wax surface of a large number of wax cases may be simultaneouslyreduced to the desired consistency by heat without unduly raising thetemperature of their core, and in the presence of a heat impossible forreducing the consistency of the wax to a softness below that bestadapting :it for electrotyping purposes and for obcases in which thecases are spaced in vertical position, providlng for the freest possiblepassage of rising heat upwardly be tween them, and wlth means bywhlch itis practical and possible to maintain a uniform temperature of heat incontact with and throughout the entire surface of every case,

both when arranged in a plurality of tiers, one above the other, or in asingle tier.

A further object of my invention is to provide an unobstructed access tothe Wax cases when so arranged to a heating appara tus at both the frontand the rear thereof by means of doors convenient of manipulation and insuch a manner that one or both of said doors may be so shifted as toregulate the temperature of the heat to which the wax cases are exposed.

Another object of my invention is to provide an apparatus for heatingwax cases with means by which when inserting the wax cases into theiroperative heating position they are effectively prevented from com.- ingin contact with the door opposite the side from which they are inserted,and which. through the shifting of the doors are automatically moved outof the path along which the heated cases are removed bothfor in spectionand use.

A further object of my inventionis an apparatus for heating wax casesproviding for two tiers of wax cases, one above the other, each of whichtiers is made up of a plurality of cases, provided with means formaintaining the cases of both tiers from contact with the door oppositethe side from which the cases are inserted and separately and. independently operated by the shifting of the adjacent door, that is to sayone of which means is operated by shifting the door downwardly from itsclosed position and the other by shifting the door upwardly from thesame position.

Another object of my invention is to provide means by which the rack orracks as may be, sustaining and supporting wax cases in a verticalposition, may be conveniently so adjusted as to adapt them for Wax casesdiffering in dimensions.

With these ends in View, my invention finds embodiment in certainfeatures of novelty in the construction, combination and arrangement ofparts by which the said ob.- jects and certain other objects areattained, all as hereinafter fully described with reference to theaccompanying drawings, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In said drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus forheating wa-x cases with the front door, that is to say the door fromwhich the heated cases are removed, in a closed position. Fig. 2 is avertical section on the line 2-2 of Fig-1, with the upper portion of theapparatus removed. Fig. 3 is a similar view on the line 33 of Fig. 1.Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4 l of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is adetail perspective view of one of the air supply pipes, more clearlyshowing the form of the jet orifices therein, and Fig. 6 is a detail topplan view of one of the racks showing the form of the grooves thereinretaining the wax cases in their upright position in the apparatus asshown in Fig. 3.

Similar characters of reference indicate the same parts in the severalfigures of the drawing.

The inclosure of the heater for wax cases in which my invention findsembodiment,

consists of opposing side walls 77, the height of which issubstantiallygreater than the width, and opposing front and real walls S8 of the samewidth, but of a heighl about one-half or less than that of the sidewalls 77, whereby there are provided between the side walls opposingdoorways respectively for a sliding rear door 9, and a sliding frontdoor 10. These several walls are preferably formed from sheet metal, andare provided with closed; bottom 11 (see Fig, 2) provided with upturned,flanges 12 between which the walls are fitted, a top or cover 13therefor being supported by the side walls 77, and having opposing sideflanges 1% as indicated in Fig. 1, overlapping the walls 77 and riveted.thereto as indicated at 15. The meeting edges of these several walls atthe four corners of the inclosing structure are closed and secured. byangle irons 16 riveted to the walls as indirated at 17, and whereby astiff and rigid inclosing structure is formed, which may be rigidlysecured to the floor of the operating room by means of angle irons 18 ateach corner riveted to the upright corner angle irons. at 1'9 andsecured to the floor by bolts 20.

The unattached flanges 21 of the angle irons 16 form an outer bearingfor the sliding doors 9 and 10, the inner bearing of which is againstupright bars 22, which (see Fig. 1) are secured to the bottom 11 of thestructure, and like the unattached flanges 21 extend from the bottom tothe top thereof, and whereby the sliding movement of the doors may befrom the bottom of the structure to the upper end thereof, and upwardlyfar enough to afford free access to the entire contents of the inclosingstructure as will be more fully described hereinafter.

Projecting above the inclosing structure at the front corners thereofand adjacent the door 10 are posts 2323, at the upper ends of which aremounted pulleys 24 and 25 supporting chains 26 and 27, the ends of whichare respectively secured to the sash 10 as indicated at 28, and suspendfrom their opposite ends a bar 29, operating as a counterweight for thesliding door 10.

lounter-weight 29 is sleeved at each end and guided upon rods 30, 31against which the bottom 11 of the inclosing structure abuts, both ofwhich rods pass through angle iron brackets secured to the closed sidewalls of the inclosing structure forming bracket supports for avplurality of bars 34, which are the bottom bars of the lower rack inwhich the wax cases are supported in their operative position, thesingle top bar for which is indicated at 35, the upper end of the rod 31passes through and is secured by means of a nut 36 through one of twoangle plates 373 7 secured to the side walls of the inclosing structure,and supporting a plurality of bars 38, which form the bottom bars ofanother and upper rack for sustaining the wax plates in their ope 'ativeposition, the top bar of which is indicated at 39. The rod 30, however,terminates below the bottom bars 38 of the upper rack as indicated at4:0, and it may here be noted that these several racks are provided with(see Fig. 6) transverse grooves ll, the ends of which are made fiar ingas indicated at 42 for facilitating the introduction of the wax casesthereto. The rods 43 and 44 serve as a means for adjusting the racks 35and 39 to wax cases differing in height and therefore in sizes, and towhich end these racks are secured to the rods by thumb screws 4t7-47,and may be by other suitable means.

As a means for preventing the wax cases when introduced into the heaterfrom being pushed forward in the path of the sliding front door 10,suitable swinging stops are provided, one for the upper rack consistingof a rod bent in the form of a bail 48, the free ends of which arerespectively pivoted at the opposite ends of the rack 39 as indicated inFigs. 2 and 3. Projecting across the front of the upper rack toward thesliding front door 10 and toward one end of which is pivoted a rod 49passing downwardly through the angle bar 37 on the end of which rod isan enlargement o nut 50 between which and the angle bar 37 is a spring51 coiled about the rod 49, the lower end of which when closing theopening of the doorway abuts against the rod 30, the downward movementof the rod l9 being limited by anut or collar thereon at the upper sideof the angle iron 37.

Spring 51 normally inclines the stop 41-8 downwardly across the frontedges of the wax cases indicated by dotted lines at 53, and maintainsthe stop in this position until the counter-balance weight 29 strikesthe nut or collar 50, and continuously upwardly compresses the springuntil the yoke stop is forced above the top edge of the wax plate 53,and by which time the front door 10 has descended far enough forremoving the wax cases from between the racks 38 and 39. For preventingthe lower wax cases from being pushed in the path of the sliding door,a. similar form of stop 54 has its free ends pivotally secured on pins55, projecting from the angle or bracket bars 33, at one side of whichstop is pivoted a rod 56. provided'at its lower end with an eye 57embracing and free to slide upon the rod 30, which rod 56 passes througha fixed Z-shaped bar 58 between the upper end of which and a collar 59is a spring 60. coiled about the rod 56, the normal operation of whichis to maintain the stop yoke in its elevated position above the bottomof the rack 34c, and therefore at a point between the front edges of thewax cases 54: and the path of movement of the sliding door. \Vith thisconstruction when access is desired to the wax cases in the lower rack,the sliding door is pushed upwardly from the position shown in Figs. 1and 2 until its descending counter-balance 29 comes 1n contact with theeye 57, and thereby compresses the spring 60 until the stop 54 isdepressed below the bottom edges of the wax plates 53.

Access to the heater structure for the introduction of the wax cases totheir operative position therein is provided for by shifting the slidingback door 9 upwardly or downwardly, as may be, and for the con venienceof which there are mounted at the adjacent corners of the structureposts 6161 upon which are mounted pulleys 6262, supporting chains 63(33,one end of which is secured to the top of the rear sliding door 9, andthe opposite ends to a counter-balance weight (if guided upon the rod 30whereby the sliding rear door 9 of the structure is' counter-balanced bythe same means as is the sliding front door 10.

For a thorough inspection of the several wax cases during the heatingprocess. a substantial portion of both of the sliding doors 9 and 10 isformed of glass, as indicated at 9 and 10, a single pane of glasspreferably being used in each door, and as a convenient means forshifting these doors in their guides each door is provided with a handle65 consisting of a bar supported at its opposite ends in clips 66secured to the upright side bars of the doors. It will now be observedthat by the employment of sliding doors a means is provided for bothsuccessfully regulating the temperature of the inclosing structure, andfor fix ing the consistency of the layers of wax on their respectivecores, and by means of which, the wax surface of the cases in the lowerrack may be maintained at the same consistency as those of the upperrack when removing the latter and vice versa. In other words one or bothdoors may be lowered as much as need be below the top of the heatingstructure for producing a draft therethrough and reducing thetemperature at that point. and on the other hand one or both doors maybe elevated to produce a draft of outside a' adiacent the bottom of therack. supporting the lower tier of wax cases. In ordinary practice.however. the supply and regulation of the temperature of heat and itsdistribution over and in contact with the wax cases is by means now tobe described.

Well toward the bottom, but supported above the same by le s 67 aresteam heating convolutes or coils 68, the steam for which is supplied(see Fig. 3) from any a suitable source through an inlet plpe 69, anddischarges therefrom through the outletv pipe 70, from which coils therising heat passes between the rack bar supports therefor and goesupwardly to. the top. of the heating structure where it would be heldfor artificially compelling its downward movement and circulation, andthereby a substantial uniform distribution ofthe heat over the entirewax surface of the several cases.

For producing the uniform distribution over the wax cases of the heatrising from the steam coils, it is found that by introducing through apipe 71 air under pressure, and discharging. it thence through a. seriesof jet orifices 72 in pipes 73 projecting laterally from the pipe 71, acirculation of the heat from the steam coils 68 is pro ducedv uniformlyover and in contact with the surfaces of every wax case exposed to suchheat, and f-urthermorethat the rising heat before coming. in'contactwith any portion of these surfaces is so tempered as to prevent it frombeing concentrated. both against the surfaces next the coils and thosewhich are adjacent the top of the heat inclosing structure, anadditional result of which is also that there is a quicker distribution,of the heat and a reduction of the wax surfaces to their desiredconsistency than. would be possible in the presence of an otherwisecomparatively sluggish rising of the heat from the coils, even withouttaking into account its concentration and.

84:, or other means adapted for the purpose of their suspension.

hen filling both racks with wax cases the front door 10- should be inthe closed position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, for when in this positionthe stop as for the upper rack, and stop 5-1: for the lower rack arethen normally in the position preventing the wax cases introduced at therear of the structure from coming in contact with any portion of thefront door, whereas the rear door may in the meantime be either atitsgreatest elevated or lowest position.

For withdrawing heated wax cases from the upper rack either forinspection or use, the front door 10 is moved downwardly until itscounter-balance weight 29 guided on the rod-30 rises to contact with thecol- The air supply" lar 50- on the rod 49, and compressing the springlifts the stop 48 above the plane of the top edges of the wax cases 53,which is again lowered to its operative position on moving the doorupwardly until the spring 51 is permitted to exert its tension andautomatically lower the stop 48 to its operative position adjacent thevertical edges of the wax cases. 1

For withdrawing wax cases from the lower rack the door 10 is movedupwardly from the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2 until its descendingcounter-weight striking the collar 57 and overcoming its tension, forcesthe rod, 56 downwardly, and which thereby depresses the stop 5st to, aplane below the bottom edges of. the wax cases in the lower rack. Myinvention, however, is not limited to the details of construction bywhich the up and: down sliding movement of the doors of the heatingstructure auto matically operate stops maintaining the wax cases ontheir introduction, and while being heated, from contact with such a,door, for my invention inthis respect finds embodiment in any meanswhereby stops of any construction for this purpose are automaticallyoperated by the movement of the front door of the heating structurewhence the plates may be partially or wholly moved for inspection, orfor immediate use.

If for any reason it becomes desirable to release heat through the frontdoorway, the door may be moved downwardly the desired distance for theescape of heat over its top, or moved upwardly for the escape of heatadjacent the bottom supporting rack, and when it becomes necessary totemper the heat either at the top or bottom by means of a direct draftthrough the racks, the rear door is accordingly elevated or lowered. Inthis connection it may also be noted that the circulating hot aircurrent produced by the jets of air under pressure either in a heated orcooled condition may be. augmented to any necessary de gree by movingeither one of these doors upwardly to form an opening adjacent thebottom rack, and, the other door down wardlv to form an opening adjacentthe top of the inclosing structure. In short, my invention provides ameans by which Wax cases in large numbers may be simultaneo-usly heateduniformly throughout their entire surfaces, but by which they may notonly be quickly heated, but their temperature as quickly reduced whenfor any reason necessary.

Having described my invention what I claim and desire to, secure byLetters Patent is:

1. An apparatus for heating wax cases comprising an inclosing structure,vertically sliding doors in the front and rear walls thereof, and meanswhereby each of said CIT doors may be moved to a position above thebottom and below the top of their respective doorways for the purposesdescribed.

2. An apparatus for heating wax cases comprising an inclosing structure,a rack therein adapted to maintain wax cases in spaced, perpendiculararrangement, doorways in the front and rear walls thereof, sliding doorstherefor, and a stop between one of said doors and the rack maintainingthe doors from contact with wax cases in the rack, and means wherebysaid stop is actuated by the movement of the door.

3. An apparatus for heating wax cases comprising an inclosing structure,a rack for supporting and maintaining wax cases in a vertical positiontherein, means located below said rack for supplying a rising heat tothe wax cases, and means for introducing between said heating source andthe rack currents of air under pressure.

4. An apparatus for heating wax cases comprising an inclosing structure,a rack for supporting and maintaining wax cases in a vertical positiontherein, means located below said rack for supplying a rising heat tothe wax cases, and means for introducing between said heating source andthe rack air under pressure, the currents of which rise in the path ofthe ascending heat for the purposes described.

5. An apparatus for heating wax cases comprising an inclosing structure,a rack for supporting and maintaining wax cases in a vertical positiontherein, means located below said rack for supplying a rising heat tothe wax cases, and means for introducing between said heating source andthe rack rising jets of air under pressure in sheet like form, mixingwith and ascending with the heated air currents to simultaneous contactwith the surfaces of each wax case whereby the heated air is. preventedfrom concentrating at and toward the upper and lower ends of the waxcases, and a uniform heat is i1nparted to and throughout the Waxsurface: thereof.

6. An apparatus for heating wax cases comprising an inclosing structure,sliding doors adapted to be moved both above and below their respective.door openings, a plurality of racks between said doorways, means forsustaining wax cases in parallel, spaced, vertical arrangement in eachof' said racks with the wax cases of each rack one above the other,means below said racks for supplying rising heat simultaneouslyimpinging against the metal back and wax surface of every wax case insaid racks, and means between said racks and the source of heat supplydischarging air under pressure into said rising heat in the direction ofits current for the purposes described, and whereby the velocity of bothcurrents and the temperature of the rising heat may be controlled byshifting one or both doors with reference to their door openings.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal,this 5th day of September, A. D. 1914.

JOSEPH P. RIVETT. [1,. s]

Witnesses:

MILDRED ELSNER, J NO. G. ELLIOTT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

